A course where all students meet 50% face-to-face in-person on campus or at an institutionally approved location and 50% online asynchronously. In this model, face-to-face instruction is reduced, but not eliminated, and indicates that the faculty and all the students registered for the class are in the same physical location at the same time.
- The course must go through The Citadel’s Online Course Review Process, which includes completion of The Citadel’s Parity Table. In compliance with the US Department of Education credit hour definition, the online instructional time must remain equivalent to a traditional face-to-face course as evidenced by the completion of The Citadel’s Parity Table for the asynchronous part of the course.
- All course materials, syllabi, grades, handouts, video lectures, assignments, etc. must be posted online within The Citadel’s approved learning management system (Canvas).
- All student work must be submitted via Canvas including work done in a third-party vendor.
- Faculty will post both online and on-campus office hours in the course syllabus.
- Days/times/room locations are required to be listed in the syllabus and in the course schedule.
- Course info will highlight course requirements and must be included in the syllabus: Hybrid courses have 50% of the course being conducted online (asynchronously). This class requires that students attending online have a webcam and microphone and must be actively participating in the class with their cameras on at all times.
Banner code
HYB-Hybrid
Key Principles for Success
Recent studies show that the hybrid delivery method can be more effective than online or in-person delivery methods alone. It allows the instructor to maximize both the benefits of in-person learning and online learning. In-person time can be devoted to interaction, application, and support, while online learning can offer efficiency, flexibility, and time for deeper reflection and focused study.
A successful hybrid course has the following ingredients:
- Well-defined learning objectives, which inform the design of in-person and online learning sessions.
- A quality online learning environment that has good content and good instructions, structured in a way that is easy to navigate.
- In-person class time is focused on student engagement more than lecturing since lecture content can be delivered more efficiently online.
- Well-defined expectations for how the course will work and a well-defined schedule.
- Regular communication and adherence to the expectations that are set.
In short, the best practices of face-to-face and online asynchronous teaching apply to hybrid courses. Although hybrid instruction requires more time and planning than other methods, it can be especially rewarding.
Preparation
Course Mapping
More than any other delivery method, a good hybrid course requires planning. One of the best ways to plan a hybrid course is to use a course mapping technique.
Begin course mapping by listing the course objectives. Align them to activities and assessments, and then identify the content and in-person exercises needed to achieve the objectives. Once these are identified, develop a delivery schedule that lists the content and activities to be delivered in each online module and in-person learning session. Review your schedule and make sure students have regular opportunities to demonstrate their learning, get feedback, and interact with others. For best results, share your course map with a colleague or student and get feedback.
Online Content Development
Start developing content as early as possible—especially video content. The time required to prepare and record video content will roughly equal what is required to prepare for and teach an in-person class.
Course Video Tips
Try to keep lecture videos under 15-20 minutes in length, even if that means creating multiple videos. Longer videos can be difficult for students to manage. Data shows that the average drop-off point for course videos is 70 percent of the way through, so front-load your most important content into the first 50-70% of the video.
Explicitly draw connections between in-class and online learning activities to blend learning across the modalities.
Make intentional connections between in-class and online learning and identify those connections for students (e.g. students might summarize an online discussion in class that launches an in-class group activity that leads to a follow-up writing assignment online).
Additional Content
Plan to write more instructions in your syllabus and assignments than you normally would in a fully in-person class. You won’t be in person as much to describe the assignments, so students will need extra written guidance.
Planning In-Person Class Time
Hybrid courses rely heavily on students coming to class prepared so that limited class time can be used effectively. That means students need to have compelling incentives to both come to class and prepare. Incentives can include the following:
- Quizzes or assignments connected to class attendance.
- Time to work on projects or problems.
- Team and group work.
- Case studies, demonstrations, and other applications of the online material.
- Guest speakers
- Consider all the ways class time can meet your course objectives.